Why Should You Replace Your Old Garage Door?

While it is easily overlooked, your garage door is a big deal. That’s because it is a big door, and therefore a major entrance into your house. Because it is big and usually located at the front of the residence, it also takes up a lot of visual space on the outside of the home. This leads to some good reasons for considering replacement of an old garage door.

Improving Your Home’s Curb Appeal

The door may be damaged, out of style or made of inferior materials. Whatever the reason, if it does not look good, it is a detraction from the home’s value, not to mention an unpleasant site that greets the eye every time someone arrives or departs, setting the visual tone at the entrance way.

Sometimes a garage door can be made better by a properly applied coat of paint. Most often, especially if the door is old, replacing it with a newer door will improve the look, functionality and security all at the same time. Replacing an unattractive garage door can be a simple way of improving curbside appeal of a home.

Upgrade Your Garage Door’s Functionality

The weight of the door is another reason for considering replacement. This is part of the door’s functionality. The materials the door is made of, combined with the type of mechanism that opens and closes the door, will add up to how easy it is to move, if and when it needs to be operated manually.

Making sure you and others in the household can open and close the garage door in an emergency, when power is out, is a good safety precaution. Even if your opener has a battery back-up, being able to move the door manually in an emergency could be crucial, making replacement of a heavy, old door, or a hard to move opener mechanism, a good idea.

Replace Your Garage Door for Better Home Security

Home security is also a major reason for considering a new door on your garage. While locks and alarms on doors and windows often keep thieves away, an older garage door can be a point of vulnerability in a house, and is often deserving of more attention. The security of a garage door is made up of several considerations.

The door is more than the door itself. The type of support system that the door is mounted too, and the mechanism that operates the opening and closing, are all components of a garage door system that can make it vulnerable to break-ins. Older mechanisms and openers are much more easily overridden by people who know how to do it. Emergency release mechanisms can be opened with wires that are fed into a gap between the door and jamb, or from under the door itself. If there are windows into the garage that can be seen through, this makes the job easier for someone breaking in, and covering garage windows in another good security measure.

Getting a Safer Garage Door

When you replace an old door with a newer model, you will automatically be getting the most modern and safe openers and mounting systems, making your garage more secure. Often, replacing the parts of the door system that are not the door itself – the opener and the mounting system – is not possible or advisable without replacing the actual door as well.

Rolling code technology has made the electronics of garage door openers much safer than they used to be. These types of openers randomly change the code in the opener each time it is used, so there is virtually no possibility of someone coming along and stealing the opener code.

Modern residential garage doors come in many styles, designs and materials. Solid and sectional roll- ups are most common, but other styles, such as sliding and horizontal folding, are also available. Newer, strong but lightweight materials make garage doors easier to use and maintain. Modern garage door systems offer many improvements over older models. Whether it is the aesthetics, the functionality or the security, all of these are important and good reasons for considering replacement of an old garage door.

Need help with your garage door? Give us a call or contact us to see how we can help.